Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-02-03

ING arms We're stacked, the men were cooking
breakfast, and q battery Of cannon standing
near had no horses attached.
Rachel beat the poor mares TANKS furious
ly, and shouted: Turn out The rebels are
coming! The rebels are comingI"
Her warning came too late Too late, also,
came that of the pickets, who were firing their
guns and rushing back 10 camp before an aw-
full wave of men that had rolled out of the
ccdars on the other side Of the cotton field
"A hundred boisterous drums were now MAX
ing the thiekets ring with the elong rolln
Rachel saw the men in front of her leave their
coffee making, rush 10 tho nlusket stacks,
seize their guns and take their places in line.
In another minute they were ordered forward
to the fence IN front Of them, upon which they
rested their musketS. Rachel rode through
their line and turned around to look The
broad cotton field Yves covered with solid
masses Of Coniederates rushing forward with
their peculiar fierce Yell
''Biro.H shouted the colonel in front Of her.
The six field pieces TO her right split her ears
with their crash A thousand muskets blazed
out fire that withercd The first line Of the
advancing foe. Another crash, and the Con
federates had answered with musSetry and
artillery that tore. the cedars around her,
scat the fence rails flying into the air and COW
cred tie ground with blue coats. Her faith
tal mare SHE'D, caught her hoof in crack in
the limestone, and fell with q broken leg.
SO began that terrible Wednesday, Dec. 81,
s82.
BTagg's plan Of battle was very simple
ftoaencrans had stretched out o long thin wing
3iiTough the cedara To the right Of the pike
40 the pike il was very strong, but two miles
away it degenerated into scattered regiments,
unsljilfully disposed Bragg throw against
those three or four to one, with all the fury
Of the southern soldier in the onset. The lire
was cTumblcd, and before noon crushed back
10 the pike.
Rachel disengaged herself from her fallen
stood, and leaaing against a sapling, watched
lho awful collision. She forgot the great
danger III the fascination Of the terrible spec
taclc She thought she had seen men scale
the whole ganut Of passion, but their widest
excuses We're tame and frothy beside this
ccs4acy Of rage in the fury of battle. The
rustic southergors whom she had seen at bah
play, tho simple hearted northernegs whom
She had alarmed as their coffee making, were
row Transformed into furies mad with the
dclirium Of slaughter, and Needless of their
own lives il the frenzy Of taking those of
others
"Nou had better run back, young woman"
said some one touching her elbow. THE
whole lines going to fan back. We're
Aaulsod
A disorJerly stream Of men, fragments Of
the shattered right, caught her in its rush,
and sho was borne back to the open fields
lying along The pike. There, as when a tut-
bulent river elnptics into bay, tie force If
the current subsided, and she was dropped like
silt The cowardly ones, hatless and weapon
less, ran Off toward the PIKE, bat the greater
portion halted formed in line, called for
their comrades to JON them, and sent for
kaorc cartridges.
Almost dropping with fatigue, Rachel made
her way to q pile Of cracker boxes by an
Osage-orangc hedge, on knoll, and sat down
Some fragments Of hard bread, dropped Oh
the trampled sod while rations we're being is
sued, lay around. She was so hungry that
she picked up one or two that were hardly
soiled, ami nibblcd them.
The dreadful clanor Of battle grew louder
continually The musketry had swoll@a into
a sullen roar, with the artillery pulsating
high above It. Crashing yolleySof hundreds
Of musaets fired at once, told Of new regi-
ments joining in the struggle. Confederate
brigadas raised piercing treble yells as they
charged across the open fields against the
Union positions. The latter responded with
aecD lunged cheers, as they hurled their as
saillnts back Clouds Of slowly curing
smoke rose above Tickets filled with mad
dencd men, firing into one another's breasts.
Swarms of rabbits and loclls of birds dashed
cut in terror from the dark coverts in which
they had hitherto found security.
No gallantry could avail against such over
Whelming numbers Is assailed the Union
right The stream OF disorganized men
flowing back from the thickets became wider
and swiffer every minute; every minute, too
The din Of the conflict came closer; every
minute the tide Of battle rolled on to regi-
raants lying near the pike.
a surgeon with n squad OF stretcher bear
Yrs came up to where Rachel was sitting.
"Puu down some Of those boxes and fix
place to lay the colonel till we can make other
arrangements said familiar voice. Rachel
looked up, and with some difficulty recon
cilel q fllry faced man in torn clothes with
thc trim hospital surgeon she had known.
~Cau fhat be yen, DR.. Densiowla she said
Tie had equal difficulty III recognizing her
"Is possible that it is you, Miss Bonds"
DO sad iii aniazoment, after size had spoken to
him again
s'Yes, this is |, or as much as is left Of me
And here" and his voice trembied, is about
rli that is left s The regiment The rest are
lying aboJ; taa rootsof those aceur3c cedars,
fg.i a.le from here
sAGl !.oI Glea--where Is het' she sRi1
ri.iug hurriadly from the boxes and passing
along the line 81 s.retcheis, scanning each
ape.
A new pail appeared ia the doctors face
IS hs watched her
"Youil not find him there, he said. The
last saw Of him be was forming handful
Of tla regiment that were still on their feet,
to retake cannon which the Confederates had
captured | was starting off with the colonel
here when they dashed away"
"Come, lie said, after making some tenn
pogry provisions for the comfort of his
wounded ''lou must get away from here
as quickly IS possible. l fear the army is
badly defeated, aud it may be rout soon
You must get away before the rush begins,
for then it viii be terrible
lie took her over the pike, and across it to
where sone wagons were standing. As be
YVES about to put Rachel in one Of these their
attention was arrested by an officer, APP
from behind Il huge rock lieutenant who
Uas Stalking there. They We're too far away
% hear what was said, but not so far that
they could not recognize the slSullSer rs Lieut.
Joseph Paneas,e. THE provost marshal
apparently dcmanded the si.ulker's name,
and wrote il IN book Pancake seemed to
give the information, and accompanied it
with iugubrious pointing to q bandage
around his knee. The provost marshal
stopped and took the handkerchief off, to find
that not even tie cloth Of the pantaloons had
been injured. lie contemptuously tore the
straps from Pancakes shoulders and left him.
The rascal's cowagCiice is like the mercy of
God said Denslow "for it endureth for
ever
He put Rachel in a wagon and ordered the
driver 20 start at once for Nashville with her
She pressed his hand, as they separated and
then sank back on the boxes, overwhelmed
with fatigue and grief
How had it been faring all this time with
Barry Glen and those with him9
Tho fierce wave had dashed against the
regiment carly in the morning and although
the iirst Ere resolved from the Confedcrates
made gaps ia the ranks where fifty men fell.
it did not recoI step, but drove its as
sailants back with such slaughter that their
dead, lying in the open ground over which
they crossed, were grimly compared by Abe
Bolton % ~punliHs layiH' in a field where the
corn's been cut on
Then the fight settled into murderous
musko1ry dGel across the field, in which the
RANKS OF both sides melted away like frost in
the SUM- In few minutes all the field Of
hlels were down, and the only captain that